A History of Architecture

Settings and Rituals

Second Edition

the late Spiro Kostof
Revisions by Gregory Castillo and Original Drawings by Richard Tobias

This edition of the late Spiro Kostof's monumental work on the history of the built environment has been updated by Greg Castillo, Kostof's research assistant and literary executor. The second edition features a new concluding chapter based on Professor Kostof's last lecture notes, "Designing the Fin-de-Siecle," as well as a magnificent 16-page section of color photographs. Castillo also revised two chapters, "Architecture and the State: The Interwar Years" and "At Peace with the Past: The Last Decades" to ensure the book's timeliness. Lavishly illustrated throughout, A History of Architecture covers architecture and urbanism from Stone Age antiquity to Post-Modernism, from ordinary buildings to great monuments, offering an essential foundation upon which to build
courses in architecture and art history.

A History of Architecture

Settings and Rituals

Second Edition

the late Spiro Kostof
Revisions by Gregory Castillo and Original Drawings by Richard Tobias

Description

When the late Spiro Kostof's A History of Architecture appeared in 1985, it was universally hailed as a masterpiece--one of the finest books on architecture ever written. Now, updated and expanded, this classic reference continues to bring to readers the full array of civilization's architectural achievements.

Insightful, engagingly written and graced with close to a thousand superb illustrations, the Second Edition of this extraordinary volume offers a sweeping narrative that examines architecture as it reflects the social, economic, and technological aspects of human history. The scope of the book is astonishing. Kostof examines a surprisingly wide variety of man-made structures: prehistoric huts and the TVA, the pyramids of Giza and the Rome railway
station, the ziggurat and the department store. Kostof considered every building worthy of attention, every structure a potential source of insight, whether it be prehistoric hunting camps at Terra Amata, or the caves at Lascaux with their magnificent paintings, or a twenty-story hotel on the Las Vegas Strip.

Previous publication dates

A History of Architecture

Settings and Rituals

Second Edition

the late Spiro Kostof
Revisions by Gregory Castillo and Original Drawings by Richard Tobias

Table of Contents

A PLACE ON EARTH 1. The Study of What We Built 2. The Cave and the Sky: Stone Age Europe 3. The Rise of the City: Architecture in Western Asia 4. The Architecture of Ancient Egypt 5. Bronze Age Cities: The Aegean and Asia Minor 6. Greek Temple and "Barbarian" Alternatives 7. Polis and Akropolis 8. The Hellenistic Realm 9. Rome: Caput Mundi10. The World at Large: Roman ConcurrencesMEASURING UP 11. The Triumph of Christ12. The Mediterranean in the Early Middle Ages13. The Birth of Nations: Europe after Charles14. The French Manner15. The Urbanization of Europe16. Edges of Medievalism17. The Renaissance: Ideal and Fad18. Spain and the New World19. Istanbul
and Venice20. The Popes as Planners: Rome 150-165021. Absolutism and Bourgeoisie: European Architecture 1600-1750THE SEARCH FOR SELF 22. Architecture for a New World23. Architectural Art and the Landscape of Industry24. The American Experience25. Victorian Environments26. The Trials of Modernism27. Architecture and the State: Interwar Years28. At Peace with the Past: The Last Decades29. Designing the Fin-de-Siecle

A History of Architecture

Settings and Rituals

Second Edition

the late Spiro Kostof
Revisions by Gregory Castillo and Original Drawings by Richard Tobias

Reviews and Awards

Praise for the previous edition:

"A magnificent guided tour through mankind's architecture....This splendid book is that rara avis, a treat for any reader and a first-rate textbook on the subject."--The New York Times Book Review